There's an obvious reason why Reality Fighters made it into the Vita launch lineup. Novarama's augmented reality title is an effective showcase for the platform's cameras, enabling players to step directly into the game. While the character customisation options are novel and practically endless, the core gameplay mechanics will likely hold more appeal to the casual crowd.

The player's first port of call in Reality Fighters is to take a photograph of themselves using the Vita's front-facing camera. The game automatically locates the mouth and eyes to animate them accordingly. A broad array of editing tool ensures that there are myriad possibilities for customisation, though many of the apparel items and fighting systems need to be unlocked.

Reality Fighters is a game with its tongue planted firmly in cheek. The creation tools are more about turning yourself into a laughing stock than a prize fighter, and there's plenty of comedy value to be found in moulding a boxer with a Princess Leia hairdo, clown shoes and a mankini. New content is unlocked at every turn, so there's scope for your fighter to evolve almost indefinitely.

Preloaded fighters are equally quirky. There's a ballerina, a cowboy, a wannabe superhero and a zombie, to name but a few. A computer generated take on Karate Kid's Mr Miyagi hosts the game and serves as your virtual sensei, upping the nostalgia value of the package.

Battles take place against preloaded Play Cards, which depict scenes including an English countryside, a Russian forest and a Chinese temple. Characters are superimposed on to these backdrops, and the device's motion sensor is used to move the viewpoint around. This can be disorientating as the camera is highly sensitive, so any tenuous movements you'd naturally make while gaming on the go will see it shift around.

Selecting the augmented reality backdrop allows players to battle against a custom scene picked up by the PS Vita's rear-mounted camera. This innovative feature makes it possible to host matches on your own coffee table, or even out and about. Couple this with the vast character customisation options, and the possibility of a thriving online community post-launch is almost a given.

The character building system is certainly more fleshed out than the fighting mechanics. Novarama has gone for accessibility over sophistication, so don't expect to find any of the finesse of Street Fighter IV here. It's possible to control the game using physical buttons only, or a combination of buttons and touch-screen. The latter method can certainly be effective, but the tradition system feels more robust.

Reality Fighters is the kind of brawler where you can pull off a plethora of combos and special moves unintentionally. Button bashing and frantic screen swiping will see you victorious on most difficulty settings, which makes the game easy to pick up and play, but ultimately unsatisfying for anyone well-schooled in the genre.

In terms of gameplay modes, this one offers Story, Survivor, Time Attack and Quick Fight for solo bouts, as well as AdHoc and Infrastructure multiplayer. Story mode sees Mr Miyagi take your fighter under his wing, pitting you against the other fighters one-by-one with some bonus games sandwiched in between. There's nothing in the way of an actual plot, but we are given biographical information on each opponent before the fighting begins.

Survivor has you run the gauntlet against the game's colourful cast, while Time Attack gives you the chance to tackle the bonus games from the Story campaign and improve on your records. Much of the game's longevity will be derived from its social features and customisation options as there's very little in the way of challenge to be found elsewhere, though the single player segments will provide some mileage for gamers determined to unlock all of the bells and whistles.

Reality Fighters is a well-polished offering with much to offer in terms of novelty value, social features and unique character creation options. Unfortunately, its core gameplay is unlikely to hook fighting fans or those looking for anything beyond a few casual kicks.